Yo Bro

The babies have recently started interacting with one another. They spend time smiling at each other, trying to chew on the other's arm. H also interacts well with them- calling them 'babies' and chortling with delight as he pats them on the head- or sits on them.

This past weekend we went to the beach. It was a little cold- a little rainy- but it was nevertheless lots of fun.

We went to the aquarium where H had lots of fun examining the sharks and fish in the huge tank. He also loved the beach where it was hard to convince him that the 50 degree water was freezing.

Language Explosion

As of yesterday, H has taken a decided interest in words and learning to speak. He worked on mastering all the animal sounds. When questioned, H reports that a duck says a throat clearing "akak" and horse says "aehh aehhh" He also says truck--"uck" and green-- "een" (all learned yesterday). While these are barely intelligible words, it really is amazing to us. He knows some sign language (see picture above where H is demonstrating 'cookie' as he watches a birthday cake go by). As for vocabulary, H has maintained the same arsenal of 10 ubiquitous words (e.g. "uh oh" which has uses from everything including 'oops' to 'I can't remember where my ears are' to 'where the hell did it go' to 'gee, that seems out of place'). Really, why bother learning anything new when most everything can be expressed with these words... But I guess that's why these past few days have been exciting. The reason H has suddenly taken an interest in expanding his vocabulary is a mystery. Though it may be related to the visitors that we had this past weekend.

Friends of ours came down to visit from their new home just three hours north of us. They recently moved across country, so it had been a few years since we had seen them. Their little boy is a year and half older than H-- a wonderful, talkative fellow with a very active imagination. Perhaps H was impressed with his ability to communicate with adults. Who knows? But I'm excited it's starting to click for him.

The Missing Link Part 1

H 5/05

B & E 12/06

People often ask how we tell the twins apart. To us, they look quite different. Most people think so too after spending some time with them. However, H appears to be the missing link who shares features of both babies. In looking through H's baby album there are many poses that we realize that B or E have unwittingly mimicked. I thought I'd see if anyone agrees... Tomorrow I'll try to find a picture match for H and B.

The Babies

The babies are doing very well. E is on the left and B on the right, hamming it up for you. Recently, they've both discovered their hands. They spend lots of time trying to will their hands into their mouths.... unfortunately, B has scratched his face (not visible in these pictures) with all his trying. Below is their Valentine's shot.

The Boy in Action

This series was taken a little over one year ago. H is ever much the same.

Dad Knows

I decided to attempt a little blog of the boy and the babies so that you can all keep up with how quickly they are changing and growing. Knowing how busy it gets around here, I may not be able to keep up myself, but I hope to post regularly with pictures and anecdotes.

H is starting to learn that some words sound alike but have different meanings, uh, there's a technical term for this I believe it's homophone. Anyway, H is sitting on Dad's lap at the dining room table this morning. "Out?!" he says with equal parts indignation and interrogation. "Yes" I assure him, "Daddy knows you want to go out." He immediately starts jabbing at his face with his pointer finger. Dad laughs hysterically. "You're right," he tells him, "that's H's nose and this is Daddy's nose." I didn't understand as quickly as Dad did, but apparently, H confused knows with nose... well at least we know he's listening.